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Friday, May 16, 2014

If you are just getting into 3d printing you might have noticed that there are many different types of 3d printing motion. At current there are four kinds, I plan on listing the pros and cons of each style of movement.

1. The Print bed does the X motion, and the extruder does the Y and Z motion, lets call this one Mendel Style.

Mendel style movement is currently the most popular style. I attribute this to it's ability to have a fairly large print volume, and its low cost. This style requires the least amount of smooth rods, and short belt lengths which make it one of the lowest cost methods of movement.

Pros

Low Cost (You can get one of this style for as cheap as $200)

Simplicity (Less parts; less can go wrong)

Print volume(Up to 12X12)

Cons

Low speed(Print beds usually weigh a lot, the printer can only go as fast as it's slowest axis(Z doesn't count). Max speed of around 90 mm/s).

Lower print quality(The more weight on any one axis, reduces print quality, as it's belts stretch under the extra weight the layers might not line up absolutely perfectly.

Large Footprint (this style of movement makes the bed move on the X so you must have room for the bed to go all the way backwards and forwards off of the base of the printer)

2. The print bed doesn't move at all, the extruder does all movement, with 3 motors for the X and Y, and a single one for the Z, this one is called Delta.

Delta style 3d printers tend to be very unpopular at current, I believe this is because of there high cost. Personally I really like these printers, they are fast, excellent print quality, and have a small footprint. They also look amazingly cool while in motion. They are growing in popularity, lower cost versions seem to be on the way.

Pros

Fast(A print speed of up to 200 mm/s)

Large Print volume(The print volume is nearly unlimited, I have see versions of this that are around 4 feet in diameter)

Small footprint(The print volume is only slightly smaller than the foot print)

Looks Awesome(It just looks awesome while going, it is amazing that it swing a nozzle around with such high accuracy)

Cons

Price(The lowest cost one is around $700)

Large Z Axis height(The X and Y are really efficient in terms of space, but Z has a few extra inches over the print volume)

3. The print bed moves only in the Z, the extruder move in the X and Y directions, lets call this one Ultimaker style.

I had never heard of this type of motion until yesterday, no one is doing this except a new start-up called MOD-t, the printer launches on the 28th of May. It moves the bed on all axis except Z. It seems like it will be really slow and inefficient, but I do not know for sure yet. It also takes up a huge area for a small print volume. Due to this printer not being released yet please take all this with a grain of salt.

Pros

Price(Less than $300)

Simplicity(The most simple of all the print types)

Cons

Large footprint(Due to the nature of the beast it takes up 4 times the build plate size)

Speed(Is the slowest of all the methods by far, about 30 mm/s max(Note this number is based of the size of the bed, and amount of seconds it takes to travel an around 40 mm, thus this is a very rough estimate)

Limited print volume(It is confine because with a print bed of around 12 x 12, it would require foot print of 24 x 24 which is unpractical)

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Here is your informational guide on how to become a nerd written by the near perfect specimen for nerdyness.

1.The first step to becoming a nerd is choosing a favorite TV show, acceptable nerdy TV show are; Doctor Who(of course), Battlestar Galactica(My new favorite show), Sherlock(borderline nerdy), and really any other show that deals with extreme intelligence(Eureka), space/time travel, or sci-fi. Incorrect nerdy TV shows are things like the Big Bang Theory, this cannot be your favorite nerd show. It is a comedy, nerd shows are never comedies.

2. After choosing a TV show, the next step is choosing an obsession, while obsession is kind of a strong word for it, you do need to find a hobby. This one you can have a lot of freedom on, it can be anythings from 3d printing(the best hobby), to record collecting, or theater. Just pick up something that you are really interested in, common choices are computers, engineering, model planes, ect. Unacceptable nerd hobbies are video games(while part of being a nerd is playing video games, slobs are the ones who play video games nonstop and it is their hobby. Don't be a slob.), clothes shopping, and cooking.

3.Now it is time to choose a video game, very common nerd video games are Pokemon, Halo, and strategy based games. You should play video games irregularly or less than a hour a day if regularly. Don't spend to much time on video games or you will become a slob. Don't be a slob.

4.Get good grades, you need a minium of a 3.5 GPA to be a nerd. It's pretty simple, nerds must always try hard at everything they do even if it is boring to them. Your favorite subjects can be the arts, science or math.

Don't worry if you are missing just one of the categories you can still be a nerd, and trust me you want to be a nerd. We have PI. Well, that was your daily dose Grant puns. Have a great day.